The Bird's Days
by Sylincir
Summary: A day of our favorite Bird in the Cage...Hyuga Neji


**The Bird's Days**

**Sylincir**

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

_It's just another day._

The Sun is shining darkly outside. It is another day, but not just any day, but just a Tuesday. Morning arrived dramatically slowly with a greatly interesting gentle breeze through the open windows of the Hidden Leaf Village. Not much of the Sun appeared over the horizon where mountain stands, but at least a gentle line of crimson silhouetted through the walls of the Village, which is used to keep out the crazy intruders of other villages, especially the Hidden Sound psychos, like the fatty, people with a body and a head sticking out, weird little girls who wears what looked strangely and peculiarly like a pot with bandage that can call spirits, and 8-legged men. But all that doesn't matter to Neji, who is studying the horizon thinking that…

_It's just another day._

While no one woke, he started on getting ready for the new day of contemplation, meditation, and training as he tied his hair, changed his bandages, checking on the wounds he received the day before, and dressing up by choosing from his wardrobe, and unsurprisingly, he have the best white shirt and brown short wardrobe…which turns out to be his only white shirt and brown short wardrobe. But it is still the same routine so to him it means…

_It's just another day._

Few minutes later, while walking down the path towards the Uzumaki Apartment, He found some kind of soft patch of green ground and meditates on it. The Apartment makes him think about Naruto, and started contemplating from the Apartment to Naruto, from Naruto to loud mouth bragging on Ninjutsu, from the bragging to fighting, and from fighting to his concept of destiny, and finally from that concept towards how Naruto saved him from darkness…and finally back at the start it was the time when the sun already rises over the horizon, shining over his back, he starts walking off in reverence on the fact that…

_It's just another day._

He is feeling a little bored after some meditation and is currently walking around in the park where he meditated, examining the little children and academy students that are running around like crazy playing games that looks like everything from "tag" to "ninja games". What a load of crazy, miserable people.

_Anyway, time for the reconciliations and the insults…_Neji thought as he walked on trying to plan out who to insult and who to reconcile with, and accidentally collided with a Ramen delivery boy, who got both surprised and attempting to maintain balance after the collision. But in the attempt, they got the failure of Neji spilled all over with noodles and every kind of ramen soup they can think of.

"Sir, I'm really sorry, can I help you with the mess?" asked the boy frantically as he saw Neji got to his feet, getting wet cloth and started wiping the ground.

"Do I look like I need help, you crazy ass bastard?" Neji shot through gritted teeth.

While the boy got distracted by the ramen soup and noodles on the ground, Neji raced back home still thinking about one thing and calming himself, and after all, to him…

_It's just another day._

After Neji cleaned himself up, which took about a few hours he started meditating again, and thought of other things…

Remembrance is always not something fun, but it does show something to him in some ways…especially the ones with values and greatness, especially the encouragements of those who helped him to go on, and especially those words of Hyuga Hizashi, his deceased and sorrowful father, and the loud exuberant Uzumaki Naruto.

How he really wanted to remember about his father alive again, at his side, talking about whatever they should talk about! But that was impossible, and he thought about him being alive again, and he was like one of those great ninja, who thinks beyond the normality of things. He remembered those comforting words of his father…

_**I really wished you were born in the Main House…**_

**_Neji…you must live on…of all the clan members, you are the only one who can pass on the power of the Hyugas… _**

_**Neji, being a Side House of the Hyugas means that you must protect the Main House Hyugas, so Neji, you must protect Hinata-sama when you guys are older…**_

And ends up, feeling more comforted, he started back to the Hyuga training field. After a few minutes, he started practicing on his special attack, **_Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou_**, or his divination field of64 strikes at the dummy…and that dummy reminded him of Naruto, which turns out he really painted a picture of Naruto on the dummy, he shot again and again, starting and muttering softly… "Divination 2 strikes, 4 strikes, 8 strikes, 16 strikes, 32 strikes, 64 strikes…" and again… "Divination 2 strikes, 4 strikes, 8 strikes, 16 strikes, 32 strikes, 64 strikes…" and again and again until he swayed, flopped onto the floor sprawling while feeling the warmth of his blood going in, and leaking out through his fingertips, while thinking the other stuff Naruto said to him…

**_Because people say I'm just a loser…_**

_**Never say anything like destiny alone is something man cannot control… **_

_**I'm…going to kill you!!...**_

**_I work hard because…I'm not like you…you aren't a loser…_**

Damn, Naruto's words are always penetrating, so hotly, so valuably…yet it sounds so…so…vulnerable…its sounding vulnerability is like everything hot water and ice, acid and steel, soil and wind. But even thought it holds still like rock over wind, water over fire, and the strong over the weak. His words usually bring great meaning, especially like dragging light over dark. And…Neji is one of those who met the light Naruto dragged on his back, and it did save him…and gave him a clear focus on if a loser can be this powerful, then a genius must be more powerful…after such remembrance, and though, he still focused on the fact that…

_It's just another day. _

Bandages, Flowers, a Mirror, white wallpaper, white boxes full of what Standard Medical Nin equipment, more flowers, more bandages, more white boxes, cotton swabs stained with blood, Neji's fingertips smeared with iodine, and most of all, a girl about 12 years old in front of Neji, that actually is Neji's cousin. This place is the part of the Hyuga Compound where we called **"The room of Hyuga Hinata." **

"That is enough, now I'm leaving" stated Neji commandingly, while hastily standing up and heading towards the door.

"Ne-Neji-ni-san, but the wou-wounds are not p-pro-properly wrapped yet, s-so how about I'll wrap it up and…" Hinata stuttered.

Neji cuts her off coldly "What I requested is none of your business; now go do…do whatever girls should do."

_SLAM._

Neji calmly made his dramatic sigh of relief, and headed for the couch, hands headed over a book titled "Communing with Meditation" He lies quietly down on the white couch and read…

(Inside the book)

**Lesson 1: Communing in the Spot**

**When you have to start meditating, you must find several places that you can use for your meditation, like gardens, seaside, lakes, woods, etc. and you must know the tips before trying to find a place to meditate.**

**Tips **

**Try to find a quiet place you think you might be comfortable with and it could be anywhere.**

**At Least the place must be either a place you knew for days or years, or a place you know that doesn't lead to the trouble of attracting attention.**

**Avoid attention at all costs. It distorts your communion with quietness.**

(But then…something went wrong so we have to end at this part of the book)

That something that went wrong can be known as a kind of Hyuga Snore from Neji…and that sleep wandered him off back to the reality of that…

_It's just another day._

He strayed off towards the streets of after a nice sleep, using the book as a pillow (the book is sure soft!), and passed through the park where some kids are playing with some kind of paper. Interested, Neji went to check it out.

"Hey mister!" exclaimed a kid happily at Neji. _Mister, huh, DO I REALLY LOOK THAT OLD?! _Neji thought angrily.

"Look at the paper and read what you see out loud!" said another and showed him the paper, which says:

**HOPEISNOWHERE**

"**Hope is nowhere**" Neji spoke flatly.

"Ha, ha, ha, then you must have a very sad and bad life!" laughed the children and ran off to tell the others who are sprawling over the floor laughing at Neji.

"…………" Neji got stunned "I don't get this"

"Get what?" said a boy with green shirt, round eyes, and thick eyebrows, who starts winking.

"Lee, look at the paper those kids have and tell me what that is all about."

"Sure!"

Lee ran off and asked the children, but the children almost ran away from Lee when Neji went and blocked their way.

"Talk to the Thick Eyebrows, he wants to know about the paper, and he is a friendly green man." said Neji coldly

"Ok…Hey, Thicky, can you look at this paper and read what you see out loud!" said the boy.

And they both look at the paper once again and this time, Lee said "**Hope is Now Here**."

"Yeah, Thicky, you must have a pretty happy life!" the children chorused in awe and ran off.

"I get it…" Neji thought while watching Lee jumping away, waving arms in the air, and showing tears of happiness, and shouting "I have a happy life, I have a happy life!"

Now Neji was awestruck, and walked away on Lee's intelligence, and thought about one question on his mind.

_Do I really have a sad and bad life…??_

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

_Do I really have a sad and bad life…??_

The question repeated over and over again in Neji's from the other day till the next dawn, and he still can't think of a good answer to this question.

_If I were Shikamaru, I must have 200 answers that answer this question._

Maybe Neji's life isn't so bad after all, since there are people who got outcast more than him, like Uchiha, Naruto, Hinata, and all others…

_I lost a father…_

_Uchiha lost his family…_

_Uzumaki is cast out by all of Konoha at young age…_

_And Hinata lives in fear of me…_

_And I'm only just a person who can stand out of darkness, but why am I embracing such darkness…?_

_Maybe I can never answer such question…_

Neji started on going to get up with his day of meditation, and reconciliation and his thought and examination of the only question:

_I am one who can stand out of darkness without help, but why am I embracing such darkness…?_

_I will find out one day, but for today…_

_It's just another day…_

**To Be Concluded…**


End file.
